The way we’ve chosen to tell this story is a little different.
First off, we want to say a big ‘thank you’ to Kevin Calabro at Hyena Records for
allowing TPWFU to use the fierce music you hear. It’s by The Frank and Joe Show. Their playing adds so much to this piece — thanks to Frank and to Joe.
In 2003, we were lucky enough to be in France, in Provence, in the area known
as the Var. The Bieler family was very gracious in allowing us to photograph
their harvest, their vendange. Harvesting grapes is hard work, but with hand
harvested grapes and extraordinary care Château Routas was producing
highly regarded wines. Most notably, their rosé and their reds.
In 2005, the Bielers decided to sell their successful vineyard, but don’t think the
Bielers are out of the wine business.
Charles Bieler has been busy building Three Thieves into a California powerhouse
and has recently been working with Paul Newman’s Own to introduce wine into
Newman’s charitable circle.
We will always remember the time we spent at Château Routas.
At sixteen years of age, Jere Gettle joined Seed Savers Exchange and never
looked back. With his interest in gardening (and collecting) as the catalyst, he
started Baker Creek Seed Company And he still looking for ways to get the
word out about the value of heirloom seeds.
Now his operation distributes nearly 100,000 catalogs yearly, hosts a gardening
forum-I Dig My Garden, and has put together what is generally acknowledged as
one of the best seed collections around.
Jere gives a good explanation here of why heirlooms matter. The diversity of
plants is a strength that Baker Creek promotes mightily. As host to several events
at his southwestern Missouri location every year, Jere is a outspoken advocate
for real food through old-school seeds. He loves this stuff.
Shot at Baker Creek Seed Company near Mansfield, Missouri.
Animals play a huge role at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture and
the man responsible for all of it is Craig Haney. Sheep, pigs, chickens, turkeys,
rabbits, even honeybees are cared for by Craig and his staff.
Working directly with Chef Dan Barber, who helms both Blue Hill at Stone Barns
and Blue Hill Restaurant in Manhattan, Haney knows very well what ‘top quality’
means. One bite at either restaurant will tell you that.
His intuitive feel for the animals and their needs is evident. Pastured and
(almost) pampered, the system at SBCFFAA treats animals the way they are
supposed to be treated. And it shows. It’s almost as if Craig’s charges know
him on sight. If all the animals had names, Haney would surely know each
and every one of them. This guy really cares about what he’s doing.
Because of her contacts from her stint in the wine business, Paulette Satur and
her husband, Chef Eberhard Müller have a unique niche. When they decided
to buy a farm and start growing specialty salads, leafy vegetables, heirloom
tomatoes, root vegetables, and herbs, the chefs she knew from her wine sales
were curious. Even better, they became customers.
Today, they sell the majority of their products directly to top tier New York City
restaurants. Their beautiful farm on the North Fork of Long Island is perfectly
situated for growing and for transporting freshly harvested products quickly to
the awaiting city kitchens.
Trading the noise and heat of Chef’s kitchen for the tranquility of Long Island,
Satur Farms is quietly, and with precision, growing with the seasons.
Watch the video shot at Satur Farms, Cutchogue, New York
For a guy who thinks locally, he sure gets around: Training at La Varenne
in Paris, cooking at notable 3-stars in France, mentored by Alice Waters
at Chez Panisse, then on to Michael’s in Santa Monica. From there, New
York, where he’s credited with bringing California cuisine to the city’s scene
with Jams, Bud’s and Washington Park.
Jonathan’s upbringing got him into local food early on. Growing up visiting
his grandparents’ farm gave him knowledge of how agriculture works.
Today’s he is chef-owner of Barbuto in the West Village and Madaleine
Mae on the Upper West Side. He manages to still keep a hand in California
with his West County Grill in Sebastopol.
A wag once said that ‘it’s easy when you know how” and Jonathan’s
use of simple ingredients, simply prepared, proves how right the wag was.
Shot at Barbuto in New York City and in the Hudson Valley. Special thanks
to Steve Lewis for producing Chad Fisher Group’s music for this story.
Thank you to Peter Pioppo for use of his handsome portrait of Mr. Forgione.
Long Island, New York has a long history of producing wine and today it’s
again a respected wine region. Shinn Estate Vineyards, on the North Fork,
is recognized as a leading producer, not only for the quality of their wines,
but also for their farming practices. Along with being great stewards of their
land, Barbara Shinn and David Page are making outstanding Bordeaux-style
wines–on the east coast, no less.
They are no strangers to food and wine. They met in Berkeley, California
when both were in the food business. They came east and opened Home,
a restaurant in New York City. Their efforts received kudos as early
proponents of local food and wine. (They have since sold their interest in
the restaurant.)
Not only is their vineyard a manicured gem, but their guesthouse (with
four perfect rooms) is the only place to stay on a vineyard property on the
North Fork. And the best thing? Breakfast by the fantastic David Page.
The People Who Feed Us would like to thank Steve Lewis for his
brilliant music for this piece.
Shot at Shinn Estate Vineyards, Mattituck, New York.
This guy is all about helping you to eat locally. He buys local vegetables from
his neighbors at the Union Square Greenmarket, dunks them in way tasty brines,
adds fresh herbs, spices, and other delicious accoutrements and before you
know it–another batch of Rick’s Picks has been born.
Harkening back to the original reason for pickling, partners Lauren McGrath and
Rick Field are preserving the bounty of the harvest. They offer not only the kinds
of traditional tastes we all know and love, but they rock green beans, okra, beets
asparagus and curried green tomatoes. Their flavor profiles are in the forefront
in the pickled genre–you don’t see these combinations just anywhere.
The folks at Rick’s Picks are picky about their ingredients, their process and are
extraordinarily enthusiastic about their wares. And why not? These jars contain
some of the best tasting, turbo-charged flavors available anywhere.
Rhinebeck, New York–In an beautiful renovated church, Josh Kroner is serving
the freshest possible ingredients at his hugely successful restaurant. He is a
supporter of the Slow Food movement, so much so that he named his restaurant, Terrapin. As in turtle. Pretty slow. Not the service–the local food attitude.
In an earlier life, Josh chefed at Mesa Grill (under Bobby Flay) where he learned
all about building flavor. He’s taken those lessons to heart at his own restaurant.
There’s even a duck quesadilla on his menu.
His support of local producers means great stuff on the plates coming out of
his kitchen. This is a chef committed to local, slow, quality ingredients.
Legendary for her cookbooks, Deborah Madison continues to delve into all
aspects of the culture surrounding food. Her involvement in grassroots efforts
in her home state of New Mexico, her thoughtful writing and her willingness
to help raise our awareness of food issues make Ms. Madison a trusted voice.
This quote says a lot about Deborah: “One can’t just get gushy about food
without knowing something of its story—how it comes to us and what sustains
it. That’s what makes it interesting, if not urgent, to me.”
This was shot in and around Galisteo and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
3-Corner Field Farm is located four hours north of New York City, near the
border of Vermont. Karen Weinberg, husband Paul Borghard, along with
daughters Emily and Zoe, raise lambs and sheep with the animal’s quality
of life their highest priority. And of all the well laid out farms in the region,
3-Corner has to be near the top. This is a beautiful farm and these people
are doing a great job.
When she’s not moving sheep or building fence (when is that, exactly?), she’s
making wonderful French-style sheep’s milk cheeses. The list of cheeses she
has mastered continues to grow. Her stand at the Union Square Greenmarket
on most Saturdays is crowded with fans of her lamb, her cheese and her smile.
It would be difficult to find two more unlikely pig farmers than these two.
But if the opinions of their fans from the New York City Greenmarket and
many well known city chefs count for anything, they are doing just fine. Flying Pigs Farm is generally acknowledged as one of the best pork producers
around. Their secret? Rare heritage breed pigs raised in a humane way. Open
pasture and woods, clean food, spring water and low stress produces meat
far superior to most. Not only are they producing a great product, they are
preserving these rare breeds of our porcine friends.
This was shot on and around their farm in the Battenkill River Valley and NYC.
We recently found this in a file while doing some organizing. The sound
quality suffers, but we wanted to share this.
In 2000, in Paris, we were lucky enough to record (and hang out with) Lionel Poilâne. He was very stylish in his very stylish office above his eponymous
shop. And what we learned from him was: fresh is best, keep all the good
traditions about food alive for the generations to come and don’t compromise
when it comes to good food.
He really knew the science of his business and he was very good about
sharing his knowledge. His daughter, Apollonia is keeping alive the family
legacy at the shop at N° 8 rue du Cherche-Midi.
This woman is on a mission. She wants people to discover the kind of Indian
food she grew up eating. Her father, a native of Kerala in southern India, knows
all the ins and outs of this sophisticated cuisine and has passed his knowledge
on to her. In Woodstock, New York she (and her cohorts) are producing fresh
simmer sauces and chutneys that have to be tasted to be believed. Using only
the freshest ingredients and painstaking manufacturing processes, she brings
a modern vibrancy to her family’s recipes.
Maya Kaimal Fine Indian Foods is in a unique position. Located in the fresh,
refrigerated section (of the stores stocking her products) these simmer sauces
and chutneys are most likely the only ones to be found there. It’s not often that a
food product has such a distinctive situation.
Her story was shot in and around Woodstock, New York.
Ever since she attended college in Perugia, Italy Paula Lambert has been in
love with good cheese, good bread and good wine. Later, when she was living
in Dallas, Texas she realized she couldn’t find the kinds of cheeses she enjoyed
in Italy. What’s a woman to do? She started making her own and formed the Mozzarella Company in the early eighties. Influenced by southwest chefs like Stephan Pyles, Dean Fearing and Robert Del Grande, Ms. Lambert started
adding herbs and chiles to her fresh cheeses. And never looked back. Her
cheese is now available from the Cowgirl Creamery in California to Murray’s
Cheese Shop in New York City. That’s a long way from Perugia.
In southwest Missouri, Rick Hopkins is producing fresh, healthy meat that has
been written about by Marian Burros in The New York Times. His company, American Pasturage, is in the forefront of pastured meat. Most ranchers who
are engaged in grass fed products, see themselves as “grassfarmers”. The
thought being that if you raise good, healthy grass and let your animals graze
on it–the cycle will take care of itself. And it does. The delicious beef, lamb,
and veal that is the result of his hard wok, humane practices and attention
to detail have people buying out his farmers market stand in less than an hour
on most Saturdays. The good news? You can order his tasty products online.
His grandfather came to America in 1907 and opened a butcher shop in Perth
Amboy, New Jersey. He practically grew up in the grocery business working
alongside his father and uncle. But most people know Rob Kaufelt as the owner
of the venerable Greenwich Village institution, Murray’s Cheese Shop.
Cheese has grown almost exponentially as one of the foods people like to talk
about, study, evaluate, discover . . . and, oh yeah, eat. And for those who crave
the good stuff Murray’s is universally acknowledged as THE cheese temple.
The contacts he’s made around the world guarantee his shop has the best cheese
available. Murray’s has an affineur (cheese ager) constantly checking the wheels
and rounds in four separate temperature and humidity controlled caves - this
allows the cheese to evolve and develop unique flavor profile and appearance.
Watch part one shot at Murray’s Cheese Shop in New York.
In southwestern Missouri, Kip Glass is raising meat the right way — on grass. His
processed chickens, turkeys, pigs and cows are scooped up at the local farmers
market every Saturday in Springfield. Loyal customers have learned to line up
early to to avoid being disappointed when he sells out completely. Which he does
on a fairly regular basis. His brand, Raised Right Meats, is being held up as an
example of animal husbandry done in a superior way — and the taste of his
products prove it. The methods Kip is using to care for the land and raise his
animals not only make environmental sense, but more and more makes business
sense as well.
Rae Stang is an ace chocolatier. Working in her store, Lucky Chocolates, she
uses fair-traded chocolate, organic ingredients and local whenever possible to
produce luscious, small-batch sweets. An artist, a cook, and an entrepreneur
only begin to describe her. Visiting her store to taste her chocolates is quickly
becoming a serious stop when one is even close to Woodstock/Saugerties,
New York. Rae is building a fun, well done and meaningful business around
her love of chocolate.
When discussing ingredient driven restaurants, Blue Hill at Stone Barns in
Pocantico Hills, New York and the original Blue Hill in New York City have to
be near the top of the list. Chef Dan Barber may be the face of this operation
but he is quick to credit the professional staff that makes things work so well.
Blue Hill at Stone Barns combines a working farm, restaurant and education
center in spectacular Hudson Valley surroundings. When you eat dinner in
the restaurant, chances are the produce was brought to the kitchen from the
field that afternoon. Yes, it’s that fresh and local.
Watch the video shot at Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Stone Barns Center for
Food and Agriculture
Chef Peter Hoffman has a knack for choosing produce for his renowned restaurant at just the right time. He’s well known for riding his custom designed bicycle to the Union Square Greenmarket to supply Savoy with the freshest fruits and vegetables. His mission is simple: to produce memorable meals from the finest ingredients purchased from farmers he knows. He’s also very active in the politics of food and supports sustainable farming wholeheartedly.
The video below was shot at the Union Square Market in New York City.
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